50th Anniversary of WDUC - A Celebration
Karen Sloan and Friends - 01/12/2024
Reading - Robert Frost – The Road not Taken
We come together today to celebrate the continuity of this congregation. The people who have come and gone, who have contributed in the call to make a difference in the world, the people who have formed community with us through the ups and downs of our messy chaotic but also joyful lives. And the people who are still here. As the poem says there were 2 roads, and taking the one less travelled has made all the difference.
But how did we get here?
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I was walking around Gwelup lake the other day, and there is now new signage up on boards, with information about the birds and about the plants, and one caught my attention. It described the formation of the lake itself.
The formation of Lake Gwelup from a swamp and market garden to a wet land full of animals, plants and birds.
So it got me thinking…
What about WDUC. What about our formation!
What is our formation story?
I have titled our formation story, a continuity of call, for that is what it is. It is a continuity of God’s presence here and elsewhere, in all things, at all times from the beginning of time and into the future.. An evolution of the divine in life from the very beginning, taking in us along the way…
From the moment of the big bang, 13.9 billion years and the formation of stars and galaxies, and all that is in between,
4 slides - Pictures of the universe
The spirit is present, always present, creating life (last slide)
Five billion years ago, one star in one galaxy – our sun – attracted round it matter as planets. One of them was our Earth.
The earth, that we can see from space, our home. A pale blue dot as Carl Sagan called it…
Pictures x 4 - The Earth
The spirit is present, always present, creating life (last slide)
On Earth, the assembly of atoms and the temperature became just right to allow water and solid rock to form continents, and mountains grew. And in some deep wet crevice, or pool, or deep in the sea, just over 3 billion years ago, some molecules became large and complex enough to make copies of themselves and become the first specks of life.
Pictures x 1
The spirit is present, always present, creating life (last slide)
Life multiplied in the seas, diversifying and becoming more and more complex. Five hundred million years ago, creatures with solid skeletons, the vertebrates, appeared. On land, green plants changed the atmosphere by making oxygen. Then 300 million years ago, certain fish learned to crawl from the sea and live on the edge of the land, breathing that oxygen from the air.
Pictures x 4
The spirit is present, always present creating life (last slide)
Now life burst into many forms – reptiles, mammals (and dinosaurs) on land, reptiles and birds in the air. Over millions of years the mammals began to develop complex brains which enabled them to learn. Among these were creatures that lived in trees.
From these our first ancestors,
Pictures x 1
The spirit is present, always present creating life (last slide)
and then, forty thousand years ago, the first men and women appeared.
Early versions who could stand up and make tools,
Pictures x 2
The spirit is present, always present creating life (last slide)
So we have a planet developing, humans developing and as time goes on and on and on we start heading our way.
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There was a group of people who gathered in a suburb, which was really bush for many years.
Who gathered in a school…
Wembley Downs school
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Until the school became too small, and then..
A building was born.
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The spirit is present, always present creating life and love and community
Eventually this Methodist church became the Uniting Church, in 1977 – A join between the Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalist. Which was an evolution and revolution in its self
Slide – 1
The spirit is present, always present creating life and love and community
…….
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And so what about the community that was formed here in Wembley Downs.
So my evolving gets more personal now, for it involves a lot of people who are here today.
Those first years were amazing, lots of kids and families, as the congregation went from the school to the building.
Geoff Blyth, was there as a shared minister, with help from a strong ministry of the laity. Already it was an outward looking church but with strong connections with the other Methodist and then Uniting Churches in the district.
Geoff will speak now and reflect on that time with us..
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The spirit is present, always present, creating life and love and community
After Geoff the community evolved again and had a diversity of preaching. Which I was witness to. It’s hard to believe but I came to this church in 1986 and never left!! But the community was warming to its task to be Jesus in the world. The work in Bali at the orphanage started, sponsoring students to go to school, the coffee group commenced to support our local people and is still going, there were working bees in other country churches and retreats to Gidgy to remind us who we belonged to.
More evolution was to follow, with the advent of Rev Neville Campbell, a full time minister… Unfortunately Nev can’t be with us, as he died some years ago. But I remember him well, and he brought stability to our church after a few years going it alone.
Nev during this time started Warehouse church, not strictly speaking part of WDUC, but it influenced many. Its message of a place for radical worship and a place for radicals to worship and modelled on the church of the saviour led many to become more active. Or activists should I say. There were peace protests, support for refugees who were in the community and wheelchair restoration.
The spirit is present, always present, creating life and love and community
At the end of this period we went alone again, but with an executive trio overseeing things. Which proved to be a master stroke.
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Because now it was Marion’s time…
Marion brought a great creative spiritual drive, a feminist perspective, challenging a few, and a real sese of calling into the prison scene, where she worked half time. It helped us see what was really happening.
Maron has prepared a reflection that will be read by Matt…
The evolution of WDUC continued while Marion was a deacon here. During this time rainbow group started, supporting those people with mental illness who are in the community, First Sunday forums, and we became mor ecumenical, joining in worship with our surrounding churches.
The spirit is present, always present creating life and love and community
When Marion left it was quite a jolt, and but like all communities, we had more evolving to do!!!
Because then it was my turn, and after being a member for many years, I became a pastoral assistant, which was really like the gardener!!! After a while I became a proper pastor, recognised by the wider uniting church, a part time role I stayed in for 11 years. In that time the community was as active as ever, with rainbow continuing, plus many other initiatives that linked us to the wider community.
I was a privilege to lead such an outward looking group of people, whose faith was open and exploring and as the years ticked by we had many a speaker and study series that stretched us and deepened and widened our faith. And the interaction of faith and science was a great love of mine, since I do a bit of both, so we became amateur scientists as well as Jesus followers!. But always we had an eye of what to do in the wider world to help and support others.
What else, in my time we invested in a first third initiative, trying to help faith formation and intergenerational interaction and worship.
And we also had covid to content with, which was challenging for everyone.
Here are a few photos from that time to remind you …
Slides (3)
The spirit is present, always present creating life and love and community (last slide),
While I felt nothing but support, and a congregation which allowed me to grow and explore alongside them, I knew it was time to finish in 2022. Since I finished in a formal way, we are continuing the journey together supporting one another, and usually I’m now sitting in the back row!.
But why am I still here. Because it’s a continuity of call that doesn’t disappear, it may evolve and change but it never goes truly missing. Because we are part of a bigger more grander story!!!
Slide
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But something is missing from our formation story.
And that is Nev Watson
Slide - with Nev
Nev has been my mentor and inspiration since I first came to the church when I was 26. Now I am 64, and from the time I heard Nev preach, to the times I have had cups of tea with he and Marg, sharing ideas about faith and the world, and sometimes even sport, and about books, lots of books, and attending conferences, and travelling together, no one has made such a difference to me on my journey. I think that the evolution of Wembley Downs has been fuelled by Nev, and many of the initiatives I have previously mentioned were started by his enthusiasm and call, who even up until recently was still reflecting and reading and writing about what it is to be a Jesus follower in the world which doesn’t really care.
Let me read a short biography I had prepared for the celebration of his 65 years in ministry.
… In terms of a biography, where to start. Nev is both a minister and a lawyer, and spent most of his life advocating for first nations people before there was an aboriginal legal service, he was a peace activist, going to Iraq during the gulf war as part of a peace team, he set up a support network for men coming out of jail after committing offences of a sexual nature, and he has supported many agencies financially, both inside and outside the church including setting up the Tabitha trust. The list can go on.
Nev has spent over 50 years at Wembley Downs Uniting Church, not as its minister but as it spiritual leader and support, and probably was the first who advocated the ministry of the laity. He has always been inclusive and open in his faith position, and mentored myself and many others in the idea that social justice, for the marginalised and the poor was and is the most important part of our faith journey. His worship has been creative, and challenging, and focussed on what matters most, helping and supporting others. His son Mike, after another sermon on the poor, said that regardless of the reading Nev could always bring it back to the poor. Luckily Jesus was also fairly single minded on that topic as well. But Nev was more than an activist, he was always around to support others closer to home through difficult times.
And that’s also not to say he isn’t spiritual in a sense of touching the divine in the silence, getting up most of his life at 3or 4 am every day to write, think, prayer and reflect. Nev has always been big on the two journeys, the journey outwards to others and inwards to the God of our centre. He promoted retreats at Gidgy and made his and Marg’s property open so that many people could find silence and solitude. To find God.
He has been a person who has practised what they have preached, in the world and in doing so has been a modern day prophet for many many people. And we at WDUC have been the beneficiaries.
I always remember him saying, without Wembley Downs I could not have done what I did in the world, but we at Wembley Downs could not have been the outward looking challenging community without him.
He rang me this morning to add something to this reflection –
“I am in my 96th year of living and partially living and far beyond commenting on the history of Wembley Downs Uniting Church. Suffice to say that I am deeply grateful for having experienced its life””
We are pretty grateful too.
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Slide – Nev with statement
So as we sit and reflect on what has gone before over 50 plus years, remember evolution does not stop, is not stationary, it is always moving forward, because the spirit is still here working in us, in our little church and in the world.
We may not be able to do great things, or some of the things we achieved early in our life together, but we can do small things with a great deal of heart and soul.
The spirit is present, always present creating life and love and community
and will continue to be so, on into the future for it never leaves us without hope. And direction.
A formation story of WDUC. A continuity of the call.
And now a song…
Hymn - Community of Christ
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Rev Geoff Blyth
As a family, we left Kalgoorlie in 1974 after a busy and demanding ministry in the mining region, including Boulder, Kambalda and Norseman. It was the height of the nickel boom with constant calls upon us, especially from fringe-dwelling aboriginal folk at our front door every day. With our three daughters, we looked for a very different lifestyle in our new ministry placement at Floreat-Wembley Downs. We were not disappointed!
What were we looking for in the church of that day? We were looking for community: especially Christian community. So many of our friends in Methodist youth circles chose Wembley Downs as their place to live when first married. They became part of a vibrant community in neighbourhood, school and a whole range of activities. This included the church, with worship being conducted in the local primary school. Our arrival in January 1974 saw the church engaged in the building of this church centre and its official opening with typical Wembley Downs imagination and celebration. An exciting time for us all!
Ministry for me included balancing the opportunities and demands of the two congregations of Wembley Downs and Floreat, with additional preaching at Wembley and West Leederville. Thankfully, this congregation was the home of enormous talent and shared leadership. It wasn’t all about me and what I could offer. With all the variety of faith experience and theology, yet there was a great sense of harmony, in a very Christ-centred way. A church of all ages, calling forth the faith and commitment of all. No wonder there were people joining the church! It was a neighbourhood church with people seeing their neighbours walking to church. A witness in itself! It was fun to come to church to meet friends. To make friends!
The basis of this community at Wembley Downs is, I believe, an expression of Paul’s teaching in his letter to the Romans 12: 5. “So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” Charles Ringma in his devotional book writes of “Links in a Chain” quoting Bonhoeffer: “In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain.” Ringma writes,” “The value of church as community is that because each person must play a part, each person can also grow in the use of their particular gifts, talents and qualities. Community develops, not from a love of community, but from the love we have for each other.”
The evidence of this notion of community was experienced and tested early in my ministry here with the deaths of members and family in Peter Down, Peter Leech, Bob Latham, Dale Evans, Christine Birch and Sally Jones. All within a short period. This building saw the grief and embrace of our people as we gathered in tribute and farewell. We learned the truth expressed by Deaconness Shirley Richardson in her years of suffering: “The thing with suffering is not what happens TO us, but what happens IN us!” But there were baptisms, weddings and birthday celebrations here, and many youth gatherings. It was church in the round here in worship with many interjections and even laughter from people, including the very young. On reading the lesson on Pentecost
Sunday when the apostle Peter exclaimed, “These men are not drunk, it is only nine o’clock in the morning.” Our Peter paused to observe, “What’s that got to do with anything?”
So many memories flow as we gather here to celebrate this anniversary and the opening of this building that has seen the life and faith of so many people in such meaningful ways. My last service here in 1983 included the act of Confirmation when a whole number of young people joined in expression of their faith in Jesus Christ and their commitment to living out that faith in church and community.
What did Paul say in that letter? “We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” For this we give thanks to God and to all who love this community of the church at Wembley Downs on this anniversary day!
GEOFF AND ESME BLYTH
Rev Marion Millin
Greetings Everyone!
I would love to have been with you all at Wembley Downs celebrating this wonderful 50th year anniversary in person. But commitments here in South Australia mean I can only be with you in spirit and pass on my congratulatory greetings to an amazing congregation via Karen instead.
When she invited me to send a reflection, I thought where do I begin and what to include? I have so many memories of congregation life here at WD – starting back in 1998 as a newly ordained minister tentatively walking down the steps for my first service and being greeted by a big hug from Dorothy Cosgrove.
I went on to realise that this warm willingness to either literally or metaphorically ‘embrace the stranger’ is a key attribute of the WD congregation life. I think in particular of the refugee support and our Rainbow Lunches which so many of you were involved in.
I actually started off at WD for only one day a week as a ‘fill in’ arrangement until the year 2000 when a change in my other UC position saw the Church Council issuing a call to serve as halftime minister at Wembley Downs dovetailing in with my halftime prison chaplaincy. I know that Nev Watson was a key mover in shaping both placements behind the scenes and I can never thank this amazing colleague and friend enough for all he did both for me personally and for our congregation - and also Cherry Miners and Vic Richards for their balanced support and advice in the leadership ‘quartet’ as we called ourselves,
However, despite all his wonderful support, I have to admit that Nev also created one of my more difficult times when he joined the peacekeepers in Iraq in 2003. We as a congregation were left holding the space of concern both for him and his family. I shall never forget being on one of our great Church Camps at Landsdale when we heard about the bombing starting in Bagdad – and then Nev’s granddaughters defiantly appearing after their session with Make Love, Not War emblazoned in paint across their T shirts!
Neither will I forget sitting on the steps of the American Embassy in protest with Marg Watson and others and reading every half hour peace prayers from 3 religions. And of course there was also the banner outside this church building which proclaimed our congregation’s peace and social justice activism alongside our spirituality.
One challenge I really enjoyed here at Wembley Downs was, with others, helping to reshape our Christian understandings and theology so that our children could gain insight too. This extended to having a Sunday afternoon service, or ‘pizza’ church, as one of our younger folks called it! This proved great fun and a truly inclusive community time, which went for a long time.
It is of course this building itself at Wembley Downs which has provided a key centring point for acknowledging God’s loving presence in our own lives. And I can remember moments here when space and time seemed to pause and open into another dimension, and I think especially of baptisms and funerals but also occasionally in sermons and reflection times.
By coincidence I have been practising recently with my choir here in Adelaide. A song I will always associate with Wembley Downs , “You raise me up” seemed to resonate with everyone and which we played and continue to play during our communion times. And it also brings me to the second part of my connection with Wembley Downs after I retired from ministry and was welcomed back and supported as a congregation member. Because that song in turn helped sustain me through dark times as did Karen’s generosity and caring support of myself and my husband Martin and so many others here too.
I had indeed experienced an abundance of the Fruits of the Spirit at Wembley Downs church – which is why I missed everyone very much when I left to be near my family in South Australia. But this reflection is too short to thank you all by name.
So I take this opportunity to thank you for what has been over the past five decades and to wish everyone an Advent Season filled with the hope, peace, joy and love that is in Christ, and many more blessings in the years ahead.
Marion Millin